Important Encouraging Information for New Authors on Medium
And not only here
“Never write again. You have no ability,” an editor told me in a teen magazine when I brought my first article there. I felt like I was dying. But life is full of amazing surprises! Several months later, that material, along with other samples of my work, accidentally got to one of the editors of a popular youth newspaper. When I realized this, I was sure that I would hear from this girl something killing me also.
But in the newspaper, this text was published a couple of days later without warning me because “it was a wonderful article,” according to the employees of the media. The next few days, I and everyone else was stunned by the avalanche of responses from readers: with my very first article, I suddenly became the most popular author of this popular newspaper (by the way, that teen magazine soon closed because teenagers didn’t want to read the articles published there 😉)
Shortly after the overwhelming success of my first articles in the local youth newspaper, I dared to send my texts to the mainstream media of the country where I was then living — and surprisingly, they began to print them!
I already studied at the journalism faculty, but I’ll tell you a secret: in fact, I did not study. I worked in a bunch of places, I had to survive, somewhere to live, something to eat. And in the country, moreover, there was a constant crisis and horrible wild inflation. I thought about my studies 2 times a year when we had exams. I learned to write texts (in the best and most effective way) in practice: that the title is important, as well as the beginning of the article (the subtitle + 1 paragraph.)
And when that article, once rejected as “terrible and ridiculous,” was accepted in another media, I realized a VERY important thing: an editor is an ordinary person with their own subjective opinion but at the same time endowed with a certain power. For some reason, many editors consider their personal opinion to be the only correct one ;)
Guys, don’t hit your head against the wall; you CAN’T change it:
But you can follow the formal publishing rules in this media/publication (for example, what style do they prefer? Humorous? Serious? Like flashy tabloids?)
You can also send your text to another publication/media and be surprised at a COMPLETELY different reaction and subsequent success :)
Also, try to be concise. When I was an editor myself
I noticed that quite a few people tend to repeat the same information and in almost the same words. But repetition is annoying. Moreover, we are all drowning in the information ocean. Appreciate other people’s time (and yours too.)
Avoid clickbait: they will be clicked once, but after that, people will lose their trust in you.
Correct errors (for example, using Grammarly) before submitting your text. Why should anyone else waste their life and vision on this? When I worked as the editor-in-chief on a series project, one of the authors who wanted to work there sent me fascinating specs, but they had a monstrous number of errors (even for middle school students. But the woman was already about 50.) When I asked her to correct them, the screenwriter ignored my request. I decided not to work with her: I had 60 authors READY to collaborate. Any editor can tell you the same.
And, of course, write about what you know (my first materials were about what was important for me then: teen problems and how to improve relationships with peers, parents, and teachers.)
If you write about what is important for you also, it will definitely resonate in the hearts of readers! The most popular articles are not the smartest, but the sincerest :)
And remember: we ALL have abilities to write. Like we have the ability to speak. And we have the right to speak about our pains and wishes and to be heard and seen😊
There will be even MORE IMPORTANT information in my new posts! Especially for people traumatized by toxic partners and narcissistic parents. Stay tuned to find out how to protect yourself from toxic personalities, how to heal from abuse, and how to get rid of malware of codependency and CPTSD. How to find and keep real love, how to create healthy relationships!
Feel free to comment if you have any questions.
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